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The Future of The Repopulation

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[...] then why not put the question to the devs directly? They seem pretty responsive in the Steam forums from what I've seen so should be straight forward enough to sort out if you're so inclined. Maybe mmorpg.com could do an interview with the devs (if they haven't already). That'd be a good question to include if they do.

Agreed! That could clear up some of the confusion... and proove me right

JC Smith used to be rather active on these forums, maybe he'll drop by when he has a chance.

Someone linked me to this thread so figured I'd come in here and clear
up any misconceptions as to what the future of The Repopulation (and
Fragmented) are. Will use bullet points as that is often the easiest way
to follow.

- We also realized that a port to Unreal
Engine would take time. It would be a significant setback time wise. We
didn't want to ask our users to accept another long bit of downtime
after they had already dealt with downtime from the Repop servers going
down, so we wanted to get a product in their hands (for free) while the
process was underway.

- We decided to make that product a sci fi
survival game, which we have titled: Fragmented. It is in essence a
downsized survival version of The Repopulation. And it is also making
the base of what will be the Unreal Engine 4 version of The
Repopulation. This isn't a replacement product, it is a spin off that
everyone who already owns the Repopulation is going to get for
free. But it's more than that, because it is also The Repopulation,
in that it is the code base that will make up The Repopulation, just
early along in the development process. Where Repop is still a ways from
getting back in testing, we'll begin opening Fragmented up to testers
later this month.

- Fragmented and The Repopulation will be
separate products due to Repop being an MMO, and more complex, but you
can think of Fragmented as stage 1 of The Repopulation. You can play it earlier, and if you prefer it you can keep playing it forever. Those who
prefer the more complex MMO oriented version would play The
Repopulation. Though it will be a bit longer before The Repopulation
gets back into testing, as it's feature set is a lot more complex than
Fragmented's. It requires some larger scale changes to Unreal Engine 4's
networking, requires cross-area transfers, more complex features, and a
lot of additional content. Fragmented gives players something they can
play in the meantime (or after) while they wait on The Repopulation to
enter into its new client's first phase of testing.

- We will be
releasing The Repopulation in modules when it happens. The first stages
will be very similar to Fragmented but with additional features tacked
on. First you might see a release which adds NPCs and Missions, then in
another update engagements are added, etc. That will allow us to get it
back up and testing more quickly, and also to get the modding tools into
the hands of players.

- Both Fragmented and The Repopulation will be moddable and will support player hosted servers, as well as official servers.

- The new Repopulation won't be an exact duplicate of the Hero Engine version. While building systems fresh we will give areas a look which we may feel needed a second look. The spirit of the game will remain the same though, just in a new engine. We have a thread on our web site where we are encouraging players to give their thoughts on this process here: https://therepopulation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11261

Someone linked me to this thread so figured I'd come in here and clear
up any misconceptions as to what the future of The Repopulation (and
Fragmented) are. Will use bullet points as that is often the easiest way
to follow.

- We also realized that a port to Unreal
Engine would take time. It would be a significant setback time wise. We
didn't want to ask our users to accept another long bit of downtime
after they had already dealt with downtime from the Repop servers going
down, so we wanted to get a product in their hands (for free) while the
process was underway.

- We decided to make that product a sci fi
survival game, which we have titled: Fragmented. It is in essence a
downsized survival version of The Repopulation. And it is also making
the base of what will be the Unreal Engine 4 version of The
Repopulation. This isn't a replacement product, it is a spin off that
everyone who already owns the Repopulation is going to get for
free. But it's more than that, because it is also The Repopulation,
in that it is the code base that will make up The Repopulation, just
early along in the development process. Where Repop is still a ways from
getting back in testing, we'll begin opening Fragmented up to testers
later this month.

- Fragmented and The Repopulation will be
separate products due to Repop being an MMO, and more complex, but you
can think of Fragmented as stage 1 of The Repopulation. You can play it earlier, and if you prefer it you can keep playing it forever. Those who
prefer the more complex MMO oriented version would play The
Repopulation. Though it will be a bit longer before The Repopulation
gets back into testing, as it's feature set is a lot more complex than
Fragmented's. It requires some larger scale changes to Unreal Engine 4's
networking, requires cross-area transfers, more complex features, and a
lot of additional content. Fragmented gives players something they can
play in the meantime (or after) while they wait on The Repopulation to
enter into its new client's first phase of testing.

- We will be
releasing The Repopulation in modules when it happens. The first stages
will be very similar to Fragmented but with additional features tacked
on. First you might see a release which adds NPCs and Missions, then in
another update engagements are added, etc. That will allow us to get it
back up and testing more quickly, and also to get the modding tools into
the hands of players.

- Both Fragmented and The Repopulation will be moddable and will support player hosted servers, as well as official servers.

- The new Repopulation won't be an exact duplicate of the Hero Engine version. While building systems fresh we will give areas a look which we may feel needed a second look. The spirit of the game will remain the same though, just in a new engine. We have a thread on our web site where we are encouraging players to give their thoughts on this process here: https://therepopulation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11261

I would approach this engine with a bit of caution JC. First of all the server side will fall way short of expectations if you try a OW so you best to work on multi-servers as zone based game play OR write your own version of a clustering based infrastructure as of this time the default engine does not support multi-computer clustering.

A couple issues I ran into. Collision is terrible on sloped terrain. Most times the avatar was running knee deep on the terrain if there was any steep angle like 30 degrees or so. At steep angles the avatar was through the terrain. I submitted a bug report for terrain meshing issues which probably will be fixed in 4.11.

The game save feature, eats a lot of CPU because it saves everything in the list so character data, world data and all go to the disk every time.

Engine performance is poor on anything under mid range. Min spec will have a tough time running a decent frame rate so you will narrow your customer base. Its actually worse than HE in performance. They are working on fixing some of the issues but over all the engine runs at a lower frame rate in the newer release than in 4.8.

Over all the engine is great. Its easy to use. Can do rapid development in blueprints and if needed use C++ when critical code is required. Most time blueprints are good enough.

I know this probably does a lot of heart break and a new wave of anti-kickstarterism! XDBut I personally am very happy about game being ported to UnrealEngine, of course if they don't run out of money and can actually deliver one day.

- Is not cancelled. - HeroEngine bye bye. - The Repopulation is being ported to Unreal Engine. While many of its assets will convert over easily to Unreal Engine, the game's code will need to be rewritten from scratch. - The development will set back by a significant period of time, no estimates announced. - The game will be released in modules. - First module "Fragmented" will be released on February which is a sci-fi survival game set in TR world. - Beyond graphics improvements there will be major performance improvements, DX12 support, server management (official and 3rd party with high level of customization and modding and rules)- VR support is planned but not confirmed. - This hasn't change the whole game plan at all, Fragmented is basically getting released to give backers something to do whilst the port is getting done.

Goodluck.

It's just another kickstarter with a GREAT vision, but in the end...kickstarters all think making games will be so easy till they try. I really think of all the games that are in the kickstarter world, the ones that are most likely to ever make it to launch are:

1. Crowfall (just because of their updates and communication, marketing wise they are as good as any AAA developer, also they are taking chances and not following every other mmo)

2. Star Citizen (I don't think it'll ever be what they say it will be, but I think they have taken to much money to not launch anything. I imagine they making it to launch with a game that is more like death matches, instances and some pve)

3. Gloria Victus (This probably has the least chance of the three of actually making it to launch, but there's a chance and it seems to keep getting better and they are always advancing)

You don't think Camelot Unchained will launch? I would put that at the top if all you are going for is a launch from kickstarter.